Chinese minister was caught in a 'Honeytrap'

China's former finance minister was forced to resign because he had been compromised by a female spy from Taiwan, according to a US State Department cable released by WikiLeaks.

It appears that Mr Jin was caught in a 'honeytrap' operation by a woman employed by Taiwan's intelligence agencyPhoto: REUTERS

By David Eimer in Beijing

3:51PM BST 26 Jun 2011

When Jin Renqing stepped down in August 2007, it was for 'personal reasons' according to the Chinese government. Now, it appears that Mr Jin was caught in a 'honeytrap' operation by a woman employed by Taiwan's intelligence agency to discover sensitive secrets.

At the time, there was speculation in the Hong Kong media that Mr Jin had resigned after he was found to have been unknowingly sharing a mistress with other senior Chinese officials. But the confidential cable from the US government claims that the then 63-year-old and the other officials were victims of a 'honeytrap', in which a seductive young woman is used to compromise a man with access to secret information of interest to a rival state.

"The woman was introduced to these men as 'someone working with a Chinese military intelligence department'. However investigators now believe that she is a Taiwan intelligence operative," said the cable, which was released by WikiLeaks earlier this month. 'Honeytraps', which are also known as 'Honeypots', are as old as espionage itself, and have long been a staple of both intelligence agencies and Hollywood spy films.

While the KGB and former East German security services were especially adept at using 'honeytraps', ironically it is now China's spies who have enthusiastically adopted the technique.

In 2008, an aide to then Prime Minister Gordon Brown had his Blackberry stolen by a Chinese woman he met in a Shanghai nightclub.

A year later, a leaked MI5 report distributed to hundreds of UK companies warned of the dangers posed by charming young Chinese women in search of commercial secrets who approach British businessmen travelling in China.